Malone, Two Smith’s, Tops In CAC Age Group Trials

JUNE 1 Top Notch
Track Club’s Xiomara “Gia” Malone teammate Malaki Smithand Sprint Tech Track Club’s Aria
Smith, were the top performers in Saturday’s BVI Athletics Association CAC Age
Group trials, which also saw five St. Croix athletes in action.

A competitive 13-14 Girls division saw Malone edging Sprint
Tech’s Tashara Edwards by 26 points after leading by 85 heading into the 1000m,
the final of seven events. Malone secured the victory after winning the 80m
dash in 10.93 seconds and the 60m Hurdles in 10.74, then taking second in both
the Long Jump with a 4.63m effort and cleared 1.45m in the High Jump, to score
3425 points in the seven disciplines.

Edwards used a personal best of 4.73m to win the Long Jump
and a 36.98m effort in the Baseball Throw for a victory and followed up with
second places in the 80m Dash (10.94) and the 1000m (3:36.20) to place second
with 3399.

Teammate Dominique Moses scored 3197 for third and Top
Notch’s Z’Niah Hutchinson-Corea, 3072. Hounds and Foxes Jusenia Tuitt
outdistanced the fieldto win the
1000m in 3:23.60 and earned 2681 points. Teammate and captain Paige Combie was
unable to finish after hurting herself in the High Jump.

Leading the competition with 1856 points heading into the
final of five events in the 11-12 Girls Division, St. Croix’s T’Yannah Lake
came to the starting line of the 800m with tears in her eyes, after being
coaxed ahead of the event.

Whatever it was bothering her she put it behind. The Hounds
and Foxes Track Club athlete moved from the back in the latter stages of the
race to finish third in 2 minutes, 57.94 seconds, behind Sprint Tech Track Club’s
Alisha Hayde’s 2:49.47 mark and teammate Aria Smith’s 2:54.85, to win the
competition with 2189 points. Lake, a Baseball player, easily won the Baseball
Throw with a 39.00m measurement and the Long Jump with a leap of 3.96m. Smith
was seven points better than Hayde to finish second with 2088, to Hayde’s 2081.
Xaria Penn accumulated 1581 points and Hounds and Foxes’ T’Anna Lake, 1380.

“What a day at the office. It’s always a pleasure to be in
the BVI and as usual, the competition was fantastic,” Hounds and Foxes Coach
Charles Golphin noted. “We haven’t had a lot of opportunities to do High Jump
or Long Jump. But, T’Yannah Lake, a baseball All Star, she won the Long Jump,
did a great job in High Jump. She won the Baseball Throw and even with an
injury, she came in third in the 800m and came out on top. It’s a grueling
event."

Top Notch Track Club’s Malachi Smith, who surfaced this year
during the Inter Primary Championships after focusing on basketball, won the 11-12
Boys 60m in 8.04 seconds, the Baseball Throw with a heave of 56.35m, was second
in the 1000m in 3:34.49, earned the division victory with 2864 points. Sprint
Tech’s Sh’ael Lavacia, who trailed Top Notch’s Kybah Dawson by 70 points
heading into the final event, finished 24 points ahead of Dawson, 2647-2620, after
running 3:37.64 to Dawson’s 3:55.60 as they placed second and third overall
respectively.

Sprint Tech’s Waynee Bell garnered 2555 points in fourth
with Carliek Benjaman’s 2309 in sixth. Malike Romney, who missed the 60m dash to
start the sequence of events, had 1177. Hounds and Foxes’ Makari Matthew-Lobby
won the 1000m in 3 minutes 28.86 seconds to end the competition and placed
fifth overall with 2329 points.

Four BVI athletes win
in Puerto Rico

Tarkia Moses, Kyron McMaster, Karene King and Deya Erickson,
were victorious in the weekend Puerto Rico national track and field
championships. Moses shaved .10 off her 800m best to cross the line in 2
minutes 09.45 seconds. McMaster ran 53.49 seconds to win the 400m Intermediate
Hurdles. Karene King won the 200m in 23.91 seconds after placing second in the
100m in 11.84. Deya Erickson won the U20 Girls 100m Hurdles in 14.57 seconds.